The MetLife Study of Decision-Making Potential, one of the first to investigate the connection between specific components of cognitive health and the continued ability to make logically consistent decisions, identified factors that may inhibit or increase the risk of poor decisions in the 50 to 79 age group.åÊ

• Those in their 70s performed at least as well as a younger age group in their 50s on a cognitive measure of strategic learning (the ability to determine and use a strategy to sift information in making decisions such as financial decisions).
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• Men and women between the ages of 50 and 79 performed equally in the effect of strategic learning on decision-making performance.åÊ

Researchers concluded that combining the present findings with emerging evidence of retained cognitive brain health in aging suggests that policies aimed at protecting those most vulnerable to poor decision-making should focus on disease, rather than age itself, as a risk factor.

Studies like this continue to contradict the perception that society has of aging. Just because we age does not necessarily mean we’re “losing it.” My mom at 91 is sharp as a tack, able to figure things out on her own, and hold an intelligent conversation with the best of them. So don’t be so quick to judge!